"Somebody's sucked all of the life out of these kids, and unless TV has lied to me, it was a crusty, bitter old Dean!"
--Homer Simpson

Friday, May 1, 2015

EpiscoNerd Oscars: The PB Nominees Revealed

Well, it’s Episconerd Oscar Day:the Joint Nominating Committee for the presiding Bishop
(JNCPB) released its slate of nominees for the XXVIIth Presiding Bishop.And, just like the real Oscars, Twitter
melted down with talk about slights, longshots, and favorites – well, a very
small, tiny,

If only an orchestra started playing if bishops talked too long...

insignificant portion of Twitter that cares about the Episcopal Church melted down.

First, let’s review Crusty’s prediction from last year.COD released his General Convention
preview back in June of 2014, a full year in advance of Convention, and
predicted a group that would be in the shortlist as follows:

“Crusty prognosticates that some combination of the
following persons will be on the list of four nominees presented by committee:
Mary-Gray Reeves (El Camino Real), Eugene Sutton (Maryland), Dean Wolfe
(Kansas), Ian Douglas (Connecticut), Daniel Martins (Springfield), Andy Doyle
(Texas), and Ed Konieczny (Oklahoma). Right now Crusty is predicting either Ian
Douglas or Gene Sutton as PB.”

Now, unforeseen events impacted these predictions – for
instance the tragic situation in the diocese of Maryland (no way Bishop Sutton
could possibly consider a PB nomination and walk away from the tremendous work
of reconciliation needed in that diocese).But overall, not a bad list of predictions. Dabney Smith fits COD's Konieczny/Martins role, a centrist/right-of-center candidate, so COD sees Smith's inclusion a vindication of his prediction for that slot.

COD picked Ian Douglas not only as a finalist, but someone
he thought would seriously contend for PB.And Crusty still believes that.He also thought Bishop Curry would be a strong candidate,
and did not list him as a finalist in last year’s preview not because he didn’t
think Curry would be nominated, but because Crusty thought Curry would not be
interested/willing in letting his name go forward.Once COD heard later in 2014 that Curry would be
willing, he thought, “There goes that prediction.” COD knew Curry would be a finalist and a strong candidate should he be willing to pursue discernment for nomination.

So, some initial thoughts on the nominees.

--Crusty is surprised they are all East Coast.To be sure, the nominees have ties to
various parts of the country and the church, including the West (Bishop Breidenthal went to CDSP and has Oregon roots) but the fact is, all four are
bishops of dioceses East of the Mississippi.

--COD is not surprised -- though is bitterly disappointed -- that they are all
men.Crusty has said on this blog
that we are actually taking some steps backwards in women in the episcopate –
we had more female diocesans over 10 years ago than we do now – and this is yet
another sign of that.There are
women who would have been fine candidates – Mary Gray Reeves and Mariann Budde,
for instance. COD has to think the committee would have given them
serious consideration, and the fact neither is here must have to do with them not being willing to pursue the process. My disappointment is not in the slate being all male, but that we continue to lag behind in having an episcopate that reflects the diversity of the church and our society but seem unable or incapable of doing anything to create a better process of discernment and election, and thus don't have a deeper bench of female bishops. [Note: there are those who might think Bishop Budde is ineligible, since she was elected in 2011, and one needs to be a bishop for five years. Article II, Section 8 of the Constitution says you need to be a bishop for five years before being elected elsewhere. COD has decreed people who think this are wrong, in COD's mind, because Article
II, Section 8, specifically refers to a bishop who may be "elected as
Bishop..of another diocese." The PB is not bishop of a diocese, so COD
therefore decrees this Article is not in effect.]

We need more pork pie hats and ironic facial hair in the episcopate.

--Crusty is surprised none of the group that he refers to as
the “hipster bishops” have been the bishops on the younger side who have shown themselves
open to looking at new models of mission and ministry.This groups includes Greg Rickel,
Jeffrey Lee, Sean Rowe, and Andy Doyle, among others. Keep watching to see if any of these emerge during the petition phase....speaking of which,

--COD also thinks we need to keep our powder dry on
prognostication because we still have the petition process, and it will be very
interesting to see who emerges from that.The petition process can indicate whether some likely candidates were
weeded out by the JCNPB and are still interested, or have changed their minds,
like Charles Jenkins did in 2006, first withdrawing his name from
consideration, changing his mind, and being nominated by petition.

That said, we all know people read this blog to read
Crusty’s crazy prognostications.So here we go:

--at least one strong candidate will emerge by
petition.Crusty simply can’t
predict who because of the nature of the process, but there is someone out
there who was weeded out by the JCNPB or who changed his/her mind, and will be
a strong candidate, finishing inthe top 4.

--when thinking about prognostications, remember: as one
bishop friend told Crusty, only the House of Bishops actually votes, they often
know candidates in ways the broader public does not, and part of their
consideration is how they think the candidates will run the House of
Bishops.So Crusty predicts:

1.Michael
Curry

2.Ian Douglas

3.Strong petition
candidate

The rest.

With an election on the 4th ballot. And BTW, we will know this, the PB election results must be released to the House of Deputies according to Title I, Canon 2, Section 1 (f) -- all results on all ballots.

--This ordering is in no way a comment on the worthiness of
any of the candidates: they’re all fine bishops, smart, passionate, and
committed.Just looking at the
process and who gets to vote, this is how COD thinks the numbers will break
down.

10 comments:

I have been told by a member of the clergy in El Camino Real that Bp. Mary Gray-Reeves was asked to run and was considering it before her husband was killed in June of last year. After that tragedy she felt that she and her family were not emotionally able to deal with a PB nomination. It is too bad as I thing she would have made a good candidate. On the other hand, she is young enough to still be eligible in 2024.

I was similarly surprised that none of the "hipster bishops" appeared on this initial list of nominees. However, if you remove "on the younger side" from the "hipster" definition, it's worth nothing that the Diocese of Southern Ohio is an exemplary diocese when it comes to new models of mission and ministry, the development of which I assume has been shepherded by +Tom Breidenthal.

I like your lineup. I had the privilege of hearing Bishop Curry preach just this past Sunday. He transcends the hipster category and has the capacity to transform listeners through his gift of preaching the Gospel. Marvelous nominee for TEC.

I'm glad my bishop (Greg Rickel of Olympia) wasn't nominated, because that means we get to keep him. I was a bit surprised to see him described as a "hipster"--although he did spend his sabbatical last year in Costa Rica, where he studied Spanish and learned to surf.

Crusty Old Dean

For ten years Crusty served on the staff of the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, first as assistant ecumenical officer, then as ecumenical officer, coordinating The Episcopal Church's relationship with other Christian communities religious traditions. For five years, Crusty served as Academic Dean and taught church history at Bexley Seabury Seminary Federation.

Crusty has moved on from his position as Academic Dean at Bexley Seabury Seminary, and is now a simple country parson in Sandwich, MA. But I'm keeping the name, since I'm not clever enough to come up with another catchy title. Plus, since I live on Cape COD, I suppose it still works. Trust me, Crusty is as Crusty as ever.

Disclaimer: this blog is solely a reflection of my own particular perspective, and in no way reflects the views of the parish I serve, the diocese where I am resident, my wife, or dog.